​Sweaty Betty sales surge as digital and international strategy pay off

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Oct 1, 2018

Gym-to-street apparel specialist Sweaty Betty is continuing to ride the fitness and athleisure wave with profits in the year to December rising on the back of higher sales.

The company, which has expanded successfully abroad, saw its revenues rising 20.6% to £47.9 million and like-for-like sales rose 6%. However, despite surging as much as 160%, its profit remains relatively small with a rise to £1.3 million in pre-tax earnings.

The company, which was founded in Notting Hill by Simon Norton-Hill (currently CEO) and creative chief Tamara Norton-Hill, opened five UK stores in the year. But it has also been focused on ramping up its digital offer to drive its share of online sales higher, as well as getting the brand into key retailers around the world. It recently signed a deal to get the product into 25 Nordstrom stores in the US.

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In 2017, the UK accounted for 87% of its sales, which was down from 89% the year earlier as that international focus started to yield results. Meanwhile the US accounted for a significant 11%, up from 9% in 2016, and the rest of the world was just 2%, but was still double the prior year’s figure.

The company is 20 years old this year, having been founded as an antidote to the lack of female-focused fashionable workout gear available in the late 1990s.